Is a Supreme Court Justice an Umpire?

New York Times, Saturday, June 5, 2010: Editorial Page

“Justice Souter’s Counsel”

“Two recent moments have brought to mind Chief Justice John Robert’s simplistic description of a Supreme Court justice as an umpire who confines himself to calling balls and strikes. The first was the reminder in Detroit on Wednesday night that umpires are highly fallible, and their calls subjective, even when something (is) as important as Armando Calarraga’s nearly perfect (baseball) game.

The other was former Justice David Souter’s brilliant demolition of the umpire metaphor in his commencement address at Harvard last week.”